Glossary for beginners!
Below we present a small glossary – it aims to bring closer the terms that we will use in future articles. The definitions are short and deliberately simplified because we want them to be understandable for everyone, and we will explain many of them in further entries.
Enjoy!
Antivirus – a program on your computer or an application on your smartphone that detects suspicious activity on your device. It monitors active processes and if it detects one that behaves in a similar way to malware, it shows the user an alert or stops it immediately.
Back-up – a copy of the data. If data is lost in any way (e.g. as a result of hardware theft, disk encryption, hardware damage), it can be recovered by restoring the backup.
Botnet – a network of infected computers or devices. Botnet often uses the power of many computers, which allows it to attack specific websites and suspend them by simultaneously entering the site from many computers at the same time.
Brute force – a method of cracking passwords and codes by trying many possible combinations. The longer the password, the more combinations are needed thus it takes longer to break it.
Bug – error, software or hardware fault.
Certificate (SSL) – confirms the identity of the website’s publisher, i.e. the entity to which the party belongs and ensures that the communication between the party and the person viewing it will not be spied by an unwanted person.
Cookies – These are files exchanged between the user’s device browsing the page and the website. They allow, among others to remember login sessions on the site, save products in the basket, and improve the relevance of the ads we see on the Internet, based on our previous activities.
Cryptocurrency – is a digital measure based on cryptography, which acts as a virtual currency. Some of the cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Ripple, Zcash.
DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) – an attack on a system or network simultaneously by many devices (botnets are often used for this purpose). It aims to occupy all free resources by simultaneously requesting to use the site (e.g. login) and thus a break in the action or a complete suspension of the activity.
Two-step verification – additional login security. The user is asked to additionally verify the login, e.g. by providing a one-time password or a code generated by an SMS or application. Also clicking in a special window on the phone, a hardware key or behavioural biometry, which consist of a continuous verification of the user’s behaviour. If you want to learn more about this type of solution, visit the Digital Fingerprints website 🙂 Other terms of the two-step verification are “two-factor authentication”, “2FA”.
Exploit – a program that uses vulnerabilities in software and hardware to access processes and perform a designed task (e.g., gather information about login details, take over an administrator account).
Firewall – a method of securing devices connected to the network by monitoring the activity of the device and catching and blocking connections that seem suspicious.
Freeware – a type of software that allows you to download, use and distribute it for free.
Geolocation – is a geographical location, but also determining the geographical location of a given device based on GPS signal or IP address.
Hacker – a person who thanks to his knowledge and abilities can find errors in software or hardware security or intentionally suspend their operation.
Hardware key – the device connected to our computer via the USB input, which authorizes our login (usually looks similar to popular Pendrive), acts as a physical “key” that confirms the login.
IP (Internet Protocol address) – the number identifying the device in the network, as well as the address at which the devices communicate with each other.
IoT (Internet of Things) – It is a network of devices in any way connected to the Internet (e.g. smart light bulbs, refrigerators, home security systems, etc.), which allows them to exchange information with the user using the network.
JavaScript – it is a scripting programming language, most often used on websites.
Keylogger – a type of malicious software that “eavesdrops” on all characters typed on the keyboard. It allows for obtaining logins and passwords from the device.
LAN (Local Area Network) – a local computer network, usually responsible for connecting computers in the vicinity of one local network, so that they can communicate directly with each other (e.g. a network of computers in a public library).
Malvertising – a type of advertisement that redirects the user to an infected site to install malware or to phishing sites.
Malware – any software and applications that have been designed to achieve a predetermined goal by planned action, often causing harm.
Password – word, phrase, a string of characters that is used when confirming login of a specific user. It should have a diverse structure (small and large characters, symbols, numbers, simple but long sentences).
Do you need an explanation of other terms, maybe you would like to know more about one of them? Please write in the comments or a private message on our Facebook, we are happy to answer all of your questions 😉